Panel



Nov. 7, 1939. E. J. sl-nELDs PANEL Filed Maron 22, 1958 Patented Nov. 7, 1939 UNITED STATES PANEL Edward J. Shields, Watertown, Mass., assignor to Hall-Gregg, Inc.,v Somerville, Mass., a vcol'- poration o! Massachusetts Application March 22, 1938, Serial No. '197,451

2 Claims.

This invention relates generally to soundproof constructions and is more particularly directed to sound proof panels or doors.

One object of my invention is to provide a sound 5 damping or sound proof panel which has sound damping or sound absorbing material throughout its area so that it is effective for sound insulating purposes throughout its area.

Another object of the invention is to provide lo a sound insulating core which may be employed under many circumstances and for many purposes. The core may be employed in a flush door construction by aixing to its outer faces'any suitable or desirable sheet material such as plyn l5 wood. The core may also be employed as a partition panel where sound insulation is a desideratum. In such instances, the core may be employed with the sheet material attached thereto, or, if desired, the partition may be built of a plu- 20 rality of such cores, and the partition is then faced on both sides with any suitable facing material, such as plaster board, or plywood, or any other desirable finishing material.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a 25 simple rugged and light construction of the type described.

In the accompanying drawing, a preferred embodiment of my invention is shown. It will be understood, however, that the embodiment is illustrative and that other modifications falling within the scope of the appended claims will be apparent to persons skilled in the art.

In the drawing: y

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a door panel embody- 3 ing the present invention, showing the finishing material broken away;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section of a part of the door taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The core of the present panel or door consists of a pair of skeletal structures I with interposed sound damping or absorbing material disposed between such frames, with the result that the 4- core is substantially'sound insulating throughout its area. The skeletal structures are preferably identical and each comprises: a rectangular frame I2, composed of a pair of stiles I4, and top and bottom rails I6; and spaced intermediate 50 rails I8. The stiles and rails are associated together in each skeletal structure in any manner well known in the art. The skeletal structures are preferably made of wood and the intermediate rails I8 are substantially thinner than the stiles 55 and top and bottom rails. As shown, the intermediate rails are about half the thickness of the stiles and top and bottom rails. In all constructions, the rails and stiles all have their outer faces in the same plane.

In the construction shown, the top and bottom rails are each rabbetted as shown at 20 so that the edge 22 is of the same thickness as the intermediate rails. When the skeletal frames are assembled to form a core or a panel, then the faces 22 are spaced the same way as the inner 10 faces of superposed intermediate rails.

In constructing the core, a pair of skeletal frames are juxtaposed with any suitable sound dam-ping material 24 interposed between the stiles and top and bottom rails, as shown. This would preferably be a rigid or semirigid sound insulating material in sheet form and should preferably be thin as compared with the thickness of the core. Thus, it may be an eighth of an inch or it may be up to one-half an inch; the object being that it should be interposed between the stiles and top and bottom rails so as to minimize the transmission of sound through these portions of the core and taldng care not to weaken the structure thereby. The material 24 is thus inter- 25 posed in the form of suitably shaped sheets between the adjacent faces of the frames as shown. Another and much thicker sheet or layer of sound damping and insulating material 26 is also interposed between the skeletal structure. The ma- 30 terial 26 may be in sheet form, if desired, but obviously need not have the rigidity or structural value of the sheets 24. The material 26 enters and lls the recesses formed by the rabbets 20 in the top and bottom rails. The skeletal 35 structures IIl are then permanently connected to- Y gether in any desired manner and by any suitable means. Panels 28 also of sound absorbing material, or, if desired, of any other suitable material,

is then inserted in the panel spaces and aixed to the core.

Thus, the elementslll, I2, I4, I6, I8, 24, 26, and 28 constructed and arranged as shown and described constitute the sound insulating or sound damping or absorbing core which has many applications, in that it may be employed as a core for sound insulating partitions which may then be finished in any desirable manner by the use of any suitable surfacing materials, or it may be employed as the core of a sound insulating door or panel. For the latter purpose, the core is surfaced on each face with any suitable or desirable material, and, as shown herein, the iinishing materials are sheets of plywood 30, one on each face and coextensive with the area of the core.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A composite insulated panel construction comprising ai pair of skeletal structures each having a wood frame and spaced wood rails, the

outer facesmoi said rails being disposed in the plane o! the `uter lfaces of the frame. said frames being thicker than the rails, relatively rigid sound insulating material disposed between the faces oi' the frames, sound insulating material disposed between the faces of the rails and illling the panels therebetween substantially to the plane of the outer faces of said skeletal structures and iinishing layers of plywood disposed over the outer faces of said skeletal structures and coextensive therewith..

of the outer i'aces 2. A composite sound insulated door compris- -ing a pair oi' joined superposed coextensive skeletal structures each having a wood frame and spaced wood rails, he outer faces of said rails being disposed in the plane of the outer faces oi the frame, said rails being approximately half the thickness ofthe lframe, some of the inner edges of thefframe being 'rabbeted to form re. cesses disposed toward the panels iormedv by the EDWARD J.' BHIELDB. 

